Twenty dead in vintage plane crash in Switzerland

Twenty people died when a vintage World War II aircraft crashed into a Swiss mountain at the weekend, police said Sunday, as an investigation was launched into why the plane plummeted straight down at high speed, The Local reported.

The Junker JU52 HB-HOT aircraft, built in Germany in 1939 and now a collectors item, belongs to JU-Air, a company with links to the Swiss air force, the ATS news agency reported.

Police have called a news conference for 1200 GMT.

The Junker plane, which can carry up to 17 passengers and three crew, crashed into the Piz Segnas mountain in the east of the country on Saturday, at an altitude of around 2,500 metres (8,200 feet).